Want to eat more greens? Well, everything’s better with bacon, right? Try this easy Chinese cabbage recipe, but feel free to substitute your favorite leafy green. Just don’t skip the bacon.
Wanting to come up with a recipe appropriate for St. Patrick’s Day, I thought about cabbage. Then I learned that fried cabbage with bacon is a classic Irish dish. I glanced out the window at my EarthBox, overflowing with Chinese cabbage. An Irish recipe using Chinese greens? Why not?
You may balk at seeing bacon and bacon drippings in this recipe. I used center-cut bacon because it’s leaner than regular bacon, but still renders some fat. Turkey bacon is so lean there’s never any fat left in the pan. That’s usually a good thing, but not in this case. (If you want to use turkey bacon, feel free, but you may need to add some olive oil.)
Chinese cabbage is more leafy green than cabbage. This recipe should work with any leafy green or cabbage, but you may need to cook “real” cabbage a bit longer.
Other Irish Recipes
Looking for something a bit more traditional for St. Patrick’s Day? Try one of these:
Chinese Cabbage with Bacon
Ingredients
- 12 strips center-cut bacon
- 1 pound Chinese cabbage or other leafy greens stems removed and cut crosswise into ribbons
- ¼ cup water
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp over medium heat. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate, reserving 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings in skillet.
- Add Chinese cabbage to skillet and stir to coat in bacon drippings. Add water. Stir cabbage constantly until it wilts, about 5 minutes. Cover skillet and cook an additional minute or two. Remove from heat.
- Crumble bacon over Chinese cabbage and season with pepper. Serve immediately.
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